He was just Anthony who was born and raised in the North End section (which is predominately Italian) of Boston?

I don't think it would have made much of a difference where he came from. His eithnicity didn't seem to be much of a joke on the show, unlike Latka from Taxi. (Personally, I didn't care for Latka. He was annoying.) The only major thing I can think of is there would have been no reason for him and Helen to get married and later divorced.

I think it did help. It played to his "naievete".

Yeah, you're right about that. I liked his more naive moments.

It definitely helped make him funny! His ethnicity was a constant joke on the show... I loved it when Roy called him Spaghetti Head, when he took over the lunch counter for Helen, when she named the spaghetti and meatballs after him, and the times he'd say something in Italian that translated to something simple in English like "the boy in the dress"... all good stuff. And the little tales and regular mentions of his village were great. (Joe: "I thought in Italy, friends open their doors to other friends..." Antonio: "In Italy there was no Lowell.")

And agreed that it helped keep him naive. They needed an ethnic mix-it-up with all the pasty North Englanders and it was perfect. They used it without abusing it! It's so hard for me to see him in any of the Monk stuff because I miss the accent.

I also love his last name, and how it was butchered that one time by the woman who made like a canary and sang (ha) in "The Lady Vanishes". I laugh every time I see her walk up to the table and say, "You SCRAPPachi?"

They certainly knew how to use it without abusing it. If anything, they went too overboard making him the pathetic loser to the point of being intolerable.


It's so hard for me to see him in any of the Monk stuff because I miss the accent.


It is interesting seeing someone you know and love as one character go on to play someone completely different. I'll take Antonio the underachieving slob any day of the week.